Mary-Margaret McMahon, one of nine candidates for councillor in Beaches-East York, is tough to pigeonhole. A cyclist who wears Blundstones and corduroys, and hugs trees, she last year arranged two shipments totalling about 50 kilograms of garlic from Manitoulin Island when she learned of a shortage affecting the East Lynn Farmer’s Market, which she co-founded, and other farmers’ markets in Toronto. Most recently she worked for the City of Toronto as a Live Green Toronto community animator in Scarborough.

Ms. McMahon, whose father was mayor of Collingwood, and whose husband Jim is a chartered accountant, is, however, a fiscal conservative, who wishes she could vote for John Tory for mayor (he has endorsed her). She wants to repeal the land transfer tax, but not the vehicle registration tax. Somewhat vaguely, she adds, “I’m into smart spending. I’m not into slash and burn.”
The other day, lawyer and Ward 32 candidate Martin Gladstone withdrew from the race and tossed his support to Ms. McMahon, recognizing her emergence as the most serious threat to the incumbent councillor, Sandra Bussin, first elected in 1997.

“Mary-Margaret McMahon is a doer. She has high energy,” he says. “Mary-Margaret is not completely Beach-centric. She knows that there’s more to the ward than the Boardwalk and Queen Street. Sandra’s had four terms. I think it’s time for a change.”
Ms. Bussin, the speaker of city council, is herself hard to pigeonhole. She is a snappy dresser; yesterday, door-knocking on Glen Davis Crescent, a hilly enclave of big homes in the centre of the ward, she wore black pants with square stainless steel studs, a red turtleneck and a red bomber jacket with a faux-fur collar. She lives on Glen Manor Drive, one of the ward’s most exclusive pockets.

Yet Ms. Bussin frames herself as the friend of tenants, seniors and homeowners, and a battle-hardened opponent of developers. Some of them are funding her opponents, she says.

“There are some heavy-hitter developers who would like to get me out of here so they can roll right over the waterfront,” she says.

Ms. Bussin’s biggest problem is her support for a sole-source contract the city signed this year with George Foulidis for his Tuggs restaurant on the Beaches boardwalk, a deal Mr. Ford calls proof of cronyism at City Hall.

Ms. Bussin notes that nightclub owners were interested in bidding for the lease. “The risk is in opening Pandora’s box,” she says. “What happens if someone comes in and outbids this small guy. Councillor [Mike] Del Grande [who wanted the bidding opened up] can walk away and I’ve got a problem on my hands.”

I asked about her call to John Tory’s radio show, in which she called herself, “Sandra from Toronto,” said she didn’t work for the city, and derided Mr. Tory as a “three-time loser.” Wiping back a tear, she said she’d just come from her father’s deathbed that afternoon to find a parking ticket on her car, and was therefore not herself.

Ms. Bussin and Ms. McMahon have roughly the same number of lawn signs. Ms. McMahon spent the afternoon yesterday knocking on doors at Kinsmen Manor, a Toronto Community Housing seniors’ building on Gerrard Street East. Peter Keiller, who wore nothing but a pair of jeans, answered the door with a cigarette in his mouth.

“I don’t want to see her get back in,” he said of Ms. Bussin. “Why not get a change in.”

One floor up, Susan Mercer was just putting her apartment back together after exterminators had sprayed to kill bed bugs.

“There’s a bed bug advisory committee,” Ms. McMahon told her. “I’d like to push that and explore the thermal treatment.” As she left she added, “Good luck. Hopefully you’re over the hump.”

Ms. McMahon’s hump — defeating an incumbent — is steep. She will try anything to get her triple-M name remembered.
“Get me in buddy,” she told one gentleman. “Remember chocolate M&Ms. That might help.”